If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

while looking at EXIF data, i notice some pictures say AF section centre, others say left and i even see right???

obviously i want it centred, i even have it at spot metering???

what gives....is it because it was shooting hockey and the subject moves??

thanks

cory

Manual, pages 64-74: Focus, pages 75-87: Exposure

There are five focus areas on your camera, and a plethora of ways that the focus point can move, some of them automatic, some manually. It's easy to do by accident. On page 66, you'll find the instructions for the focus area lock, which you can set to prevent yourself from accidently moving the focus area.

Oh, yeah, and you might think, "I'll bet he's looking at his D200 manual". Nope, nor did I memorize the D70 manual. The jerks who stole my camera didn't get the manual. It's a useful read.

Metering and Focus are two distinctly different things. Focus sets the lens elements so that the image is sharp. Metering is only concerned with getting the right amount of light on the sensor, and is basically controlled by aperture and shutter speed.

And, yes, there are modes where the focus area will move due to a moving subject. Since you have to go into the menu to get to them (I think, see your manual), I'd be surprised if that's the issue.

I found I made the same mistake more than once. After I would
scroll through pics I had taken, using the left and right arrows on
the multi selector, the focus area lit very often was the last
direction I moved the multi selector. After doing anything with the
selector, I make a point of checking the focus area at the bottom of
the viewfinder display before going back to shooting.
-Rich

Thanks, that is what I thought... I do not understand how you then by accident can use a wrong focus point though.

If someone is unaware of multi-area focus (i.e. moving from an all-in-one to a dSLR), and missed it in the manual, then they can easily use the wrong focus point. This is a pretty common error, and according to a sales source is the cause of some returns for suspected focus problems.

Multi-area focus is one of the nice features of a dSLR that we all expect and take for granted, but many new users are just unaware.

P.S. Here is the viewfinder view. You can see the 5 AF focus points. The grid overlay is very handy as well

long way to go

As a complete novice I hope that my stupidity offers some kind of help to another new user. I was trying to photograph my kids indoor soccer game, when the focus problem happened. It happened a few times that day before I realized what I had done. Coldrain, you sir are absolutely right that I should of seen it before the picture was taken. I guess I got kind of excited just to get my kids in an action shot and didn't pay attention to the highlighted focus area. I had zero knowledge about dslrs 2 months ago, but thanks to you guys and my lurking around here on this site, it's growing. You all are most helpful and patient.
Long way to go-Rich

Thanks!

I just want to say thank you all for this thread. Even though I have my D70s for over two months, I haven't read the manual yet (until this week). Last week when I got my 50 mm f1.8 len, I notice this focus problem. Some of the replies prompted me to research and read the manual. Now I really love my camera.